The logo of a Honda car is seen outside Honda Motor Co Ltd's headquarters and showroom in Tokyo. (Stringer/Reuters/File)

Honda recall affects 250,000 vehicles worldwide for braking problem

By Associated Press / 03.14.13

Honda is recalling nearly 250,000 vehicles worldwide for brakes that can suddenly kick in even when the driver isn't braking.

No crashes have been reported related to the defect.

Honda Motor Co. said Thursday it was recalling more than 183,000 vehicles in the U.S., including the Acura RL, Acura MDX and Pilot models.

More than 56,000 vehicles were recalled in Japan, affecting the Odyssey, Legend, StepWgn and Elysion models.

Also being recalled are nearly 8,000 vehicles in Canada, nearly 1,000 in Australia, about 300 in Mexico and 70 in Germany. The vehicles were produced from March 2004 through May 2006.

Some drivers complained about the problem, including 17 in Japan and one in the U.S.

The problem is caused by improper electronics and wiring in the vehicle-stability-assist system.

The falcon wing rear doors of the Tesla Motors Model X electric vehicle are seen at its 2012 unveiling at the Tesla Design Studio in Hawthorne, Calif. (David McNew/Reuters/File)

Tesla Motors delays release of Model X electric crossover

By John Voelcker, Guest blogger / 03.13.13

Now that Tesla appears to be delivering hundreds of its Model S electric sport sedan each week, public attention inevitably turns to its future.

Specifically, the next vehicle it plans to launch, the Model X all-electric crossover utility vehicle--which will offer optional all-wheel drive.

But inside the Form 10-K 2012 Annual Report issued last week by Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] was a note that may disappoint some affluent Tesla-loving families.

They may want a fully electric crossover in which to carry little Jennifer to soccer practice and little Jason to music lessons, but they're going to have to wait a little longer.  ( Continue… )

Volvo's corporate logo on the rear hatch of a Volvo C30 in a showroom near the Volvo Car Corporation Headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden. Volvo introduced cyclist detection technology in Geneva this week. (Bob Strong/Reuters/File)

Volvo unveils cyclist detection system

By Kurt Ernst, Guest blogger / 03.10.13

No automaker in the world has done as good a job of both innovating and marketing safety features as Volvo. The brand originally known for building safe and reliable cars has branched out to target roadside animals and pedestrians in its safety net, and now that list includes bicyclists, too.

 An offshoot of Volvo’s Pedestrian Detection system, first launched in 2010, the new Pedestrian and Cyclist Detection system includes full auto brake capabilities. Advancements in software, including faster vision processing, now allow the system to cover what Volvo is describing as “certain” cyclist situations.
Since Volvo’s detection system is forward-looking, it can react to cyclists moving in the same direction as the car, assuming the differential in speed is not substantial. When it senses that a collision is imminent, the system delivers a warning to the driver and automatically brakes to avoid or minimize an accident.

 In Europe, roughly 50-percent of cyclist fatalities are caused by impacts with motor vehicles. Volvo’s system, which relies on data from both a radar unit and a camera, allows for accurate object recognition at the farthest possible distances, potentially enabling a significant reduction in collisions between automobile and bicyclists.

 Ultimately, Volvo’s goal is to make cars crash-proof, which is a mission shared by virtually every automaker working on autonomous technology. Though it may be farther off than Volvo’s target date of 2020, every advancement in safety gets the automaker one step closer to its target.

 Look for Volvo to roll out the Pedestrian and Cyclist Detection system on its V40, S60, V60, XC60, V70, XC70 and S80 models, beginning in the second quarter of 2013.

This undated image made available by Honda shows the 2013 Honda Civic EX-L Sedan. The Civic earned the highest possible safety rating from the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety, becoming the first compact car to do so. (Honda/AP/File)

Honda Civic is first compact to earn 'Top Safety Pick+' rating

By Bengt Halvorson, Guest blogger / 03.09.13

If you're shopping for a small, economical car and care about safety, we have a new winner: the 2013 Honda Civic.

The 2013 Honda Civic (both in Coupe and Sedan form) has become the first compact car to earn the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) Top Safety Pick Plus (TSP+) designation—the newest, top-tier designation from the insurance-industry funded group.

That means that the Civic now gets top 'good' ratings from the IIHS in frontal and side impact tests, the rear seat-based impact test, and the roof-strength test—as well as the latest small overlap frontal impact test.

First introduced for consumers this past summer, the small overlap test measures forces (on a crash-test dummy) and cabin intrusion when the corner of the vehicle (25 percent of the front end) impacts a rigid barrier at 40 mph. In the real world, it simulates one of the most deadly or injurious accidents—when the corner of the vehicle impacts either another car or a utility pole.

The 2013 Civic Sedan also maintains a top five-star overall score from the federal government. ( Continue… )

An Audi logo is shown at the 2013 Pittsburgh Auto Show in Pittsburgh. In Iron Man 3, inventor/superhero Tony Stark will drive another fashion-forward Audi. (Gene J. Puskar/AP/File)

Audi electric car prototype to star in Iron Man 3

By Richard Read, Guest blogger / 03.07.13

Movies, books, and television shows can boost a brand to new heights. Think Risky Business and Ray Bans, or E.T. and Reese's Pieces.

More recent examples of great product placement include The Italian Job, which helped relaunch the MINI brand in the U.S. Or Transformers 2, which wasn't well-received by the critics, but still managed to spark sales of the Chevrolet Camaro. And as some of you may know, the hugely popular Fifty Shades of Grey has a very soft spot for Audi, which hasn't gone unnoticed by the erotic trilogy's mostly female readership.

Now, Audi is returning to the big screen in a big way. The brand made a splash in the first andsecond installments of Iron Man, and in about two months, it'll come back for round three.

In Iron Man 3, inventor/superhero Tony Stark drives another fashion-forward Audi. This one may look similar to the Audi R8 hardtop he drove in the original Iron Man, but in fact, it's the R8's all-electric e-tron variant -- which is, sadly, still just a prototype.  ( Continue… )

A Tesla Motors Model S electric sedan is driven near the company's factory in Fremont, Calif. (Noah Berger/Reuters/File)

British court dismisses Tesla Motors lawsuit against BBC

By Kurt Ernst, Guest blogger / 03.07.13

Tesla, it seems, can’t catch a break in the media in 2013. First, The New York Timespublished a less-than-stellar review of the Model S, criticizing the car’s range in cold weather.

Tesla Motors’ [NSDQ:TSLA] CEO, Elon Musk, was quick to respond with data that  contradicted The New York Times’ article, but the newspaper didn’t back down.

Now comes word from Bloomberg that a British appeals court has dismissed Tesla’s second attempt at a libel suit against the BBC, the network behind Top Gear. The dismissal should put an end to the courtroom sparring of Tesla and Top Gear.

In 2008, Top Gear ran a piece that was highly critical of the Tesla Roadster’s range, depicting it as just 55 miles under spirited driving, not the 200 miles claimed by Tesla. Tesla’s original lawsuit against the BBC and Top Gear, filed in March of 2011, alleged libel and malicious falsehood.  ( Continue… )

A staff cleans in front of the Toyota stand during the first media day of the 2013 Geneva Motor Show at the Palexpo Arena in Geneva Tuesday. (Denis Balibouse/Reuters)

Toyota shows off electric 'microcar' at Geneva Motor Show

By Antony Ingram, Guest blogger / 03.06.13

The annual Geneva Motor Show is a haven for weird and wonderful concept vehicles, and one of the strangest this year is the Toyota i-Road concept.

The i-Road is described by Toyota as "a new form of transport", designed as an easy-to-maneuver, zero-emissions form of inner-city transport.

We've heard that brief before, of course. It's the reason Smart exists, and Renault already has such a car in production, in the form of the Twizy.

The three-wheeled Toyota offers some advantages over either of these vehicles though.  ( Continue… )

The new Volkswagen VW Prototype XL1 is shown during the press day at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show in Geneva Tuesday. Steady-state cruising at 62 mph requires just 6.2 horsepower, so once you get it up to highway speeds, the XL1 is insanely fuel-efficient, Voelcker writes. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone/AP)

Geneva Motor Show: Volkswagen unveils diesel plug-in hybrid

By John Voelcker, Guest blogger / 03.06.13

Will this be the car that finally makes the ultra-aerodynamic and futuristic GM EV1 electric car look old-fashioned?

Today, VW Group took the wraps off the production version of the Volkswagen XL1, a turbodieselplug-in hybrid two-seater that will be its most fuel-efficient model ever offered.

The ultra-streamlined XL1 was first shown as a concept car in January 2011.

Efficiency starts with an extremely lightweight 12-foot-long body made of carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic, with an astoundingly low drag coefficient of just 0.186 and total weight of only 1,750 pounds.

That's partially due to its staggered, seating, which reduces the car's overall width--and thereby its frontal area--to reduce the amount of air it displaces moving down the road at speed, all in the name of saving fuel.  ( Continue… )

Attendees look at the new McLaren P1 during the 83rd Geneva International Motor Show in Switzerland. Pricing on the McLaren P1 starts at $1.15 million and only 375 will be built, Vijayenthiran writes. (Laurent Cipriani/AP)

McLaren P1 electric car on display at Geneva Motor Show (+video)

By Viknesh Vijayenthiran, Guest blogger / 03.05.13

With all the excitement surrounding the reveal of the new La Ferrari, it’s easy to forget that McLaren also had a new flagship supercar on show in Geneva today, the new P1.

Interestingly, the two cars have very similar specs on paper, and both have similartechnology onboard.

That shouldn’t come as that much of a surprise as both cars, the La Ferrari and P1, have been developed using technology lifted straight out of Formula One racing.  

After comparing the initial specs, it looks like the La Ferrari has the slight edge; it’s more powerful, has quicker acceleration (to 186 mph) and a higher top speed.  ( Continue… )